Tuesday, September 1, 2015

You can help change your prognosis!

As you know, September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month. Last
year, 120 MPN patients let us know what research project they felt was
important by making a gift during Blood Cancer Awareness Month. After our
scientific Review Board reviewed and approved a list of projects, MPN patients
family members and friends choose from this list and told us where we should use
their gift.

These
patients directed their funds to support a
small pilot study of 10 patients that will investigate a patient’s response to
immuno-therapy.

Our immune system, which fights infections, does
not inhibit the development of MF. Restoring the ability of our immune system
to respond to MF is the goal of this project. The interaction between two proteins
known as PD1 and PDL-1 has been widely investigated and is an established
approach to restore our immune system to respond to hard tumors and lymphoid
cancers. This project will use a drug called a PDL-1 inhibitor that will
determine a MF patient’s response to this type of therapy.If the results of this project is successful,
it could lead to the development of a new therapy for MF patients.

If you want to help change your prognosis, all you need to do
is make a contribution to the MPN Research Foundation in September. Go to: https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=12140.
With your gift, you will get to vote for a specific research project approved
by our Scientific Review Board during our next funding cycle.

The project with the most votes, will be designated the BCAM
Research Project for 2016.